360 Degrees of Text: Using Poetry to Teach Close Reading and Powerful Writing (Theory and Research Into Practice

by Eileen Murphy Buckley

Through Eileen Murphy Buckley’s 360-degree approach to teaching critical literacy, students investigate texts through a full spectrum of learning modalities, harnessing the excitement of performance, imitation, creative writing, and argument/debate activities to become more powerful thinkers, readers, and writers.

Youth culture is rich with poetry, from song lyrics that teens read, listen to, and write, to poetry they perform through slams and open mics. The rich, compact language of poetry both inside and outside the classroom plays a valuable role in bridging the divide between youth culture and academic culture. Whether we call it “critical literacy” or just “making meaning,” being able to read and analyze with precision and judgment empowers all students, not just in their academic courses but in everyday situations that require thoughtful evaluation and response. Through Eileen Murphy Buckley’s 360-degree approach to teaching critical literacy, students investigate texts through a full spectrum of learning modalities, harnessing the excitement of performance, imitation, creative writing, and argument/debate activities to become more powerful thinkers, readers, and writers.

193 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 2012

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good review of teaching close reading and workshopping. Some strong, practical, and applicable ideas.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminders about teaching poetry: the importance of reading aloud and memorizing poems as well as writing poems, along with explicating them orally and in writing. Lots of helpful items in the Appendix including lists of essential terms along with questions for think-alouds and for drafting summaries and explications of poems, and suggestions for preparing poems for recitation. A nice range of poems is presented in the book's chapters.

[Kate Zimmerbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't wait to try out some of the strategies in this book. I've already thought of many ways to connect the poems that Buckley uses to some of the texts my freshmen read.